(CNN) - Vice President Dick Cheney will be in a wheelchair during Tuesday's Presidential Inauguration, after pulling a muscle in his back while moving, White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said

"Under his physician's recommendation, the Vice President will be in a wheelchair for the next couple of days, including for tomorrow's inauguration, The Vice President is looking forward to being there for tomorrow's historic inaugural activities," Perino said in a statement.

"There are few Americans who understand this need for common purpose and common effort better than John McCain," Obama said at a dinner honoring the former Republican presidential candidate. "It is what he has strived for and achieved throughout his life. It is built into the very content of his character."

"To be clear, President-elect Obama offered Vice President-elect Biden one job only - to be his running mate," Elizabeth Alexander, a spokeswoman for Biden, said. "And the vice president-elect was thrilled to accept the offer."

The statement came after both Bidens appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show, during which Mrs. Biden said her husband picked the No. 2 post over being secretary of state

"Joe had the choice to be secretary of state or vice president," Jill Biden said as her husband tried to cut her off.

"OK, he did," Mrs. Biden continued as the audience laughed. She also said she advised her husband being vice president would allow for more time at home.

"If you're secretary of state, you'll be away, we'll never see you, you know," she said. "I'll see you at a state dinner once in a while."

Biden himself has acknowledged he did discuss the possibility of becoming secretary of state with Obama, and described one specific conversation on the matter to the New Yorker last October.

“He said, ‘You have a great interest in national-security policy, foreign policy,’ ” Biden said. “He wasn’t offering me this, but he said, ‘Would you rather be secretary of state instead of vice president?’ And I thought a lot about that.”

(CNN) - Nearly all trains on the Northeast corridor traveling into Washington, DC Tuesday are completely booked, spokespersons for Amtrak and Maryland Transportation have told CNN.

According to Amtrak spokesman Marc Magliari, nearly every train heading to Washington on Inauguration Day is sold out, while all outbound trains from Washington on Wednesday are completely booked. The Chicago to Washington line was also completely sold out on Monday.

In addition, all incoming trains from Maryland are cold out - meaning 35,000 tickets have been sold, according to Jo Greene, a spokesperson for Maryland Transportation.

WASHINGTON (CNN) - One night before their son turns the White House over to Barack Obama, a melancholy former President George Herbert Walker Bush and his wife Barbara made an impromptu visit to the press briefing room on Monday and chatted with reporters about how much they will miss the building they have called home on and off for a couple of decades.

"We will miss coming and going, but it's time to move on," said the former President, who has been a frequent visitor during his son's two terms in office. "The Bushes are going to a happy life."

When a reporter suggested perhaps former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush will take the White House back someday, the former President smiled, "Maybe Jeb will do something. I'd like to see him try."

JERUSALEM (CNN) - Israel plans to have its troops out of Gaza as soon as possible after the weekend cease-fire that ended three weeks of fighting in the Palestinian territory, Israeli officials said Monday.

An Israeli Foreign Ministry official said that the pullout, which already had begun Sunday, could be finished by Tuesday evening.

The official, who declined to be named, said that the withdrawal could be complete before U.S. President-elect Barack Obama takes his oath of office in Washington at noon ET Tuesday - 7 p.m. in Israel - though commanders have not been given that deadline.

The Israel Defense Forces said Sunday that it had begun withdrawing some troops from Gaza, and Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev said Sunday that troops would be out in a matter of days, not weeks.

NEW YORK (CNN) - New York Gov. David Paterson appears to be slowly nearing the end of his lengthy deliberation process over whom to appoint to replace Hillary Clinton as New York's junior senator.

Paterson has stated that he would wait until the Senate confirmed Clinton as secretary of state before he formally selected her replacement. Clinton is expected to be confirmed when the Senate convenes at 3 p.m. after the inaugural Tuesday.

In an appearance on CNN's "American Morning" on Monday, Paterson denied having settled on a replacement for Clinton, maintaining that he's still weighing several possibilities.

WASHINGTON (CNN) - The Senate will be in session at 3 pm on Inauguration Day, primarily to confirm several top Obama nominees. It’s unclear who will be confirmed, but there is a list of nominees whose confirmations could be called up as early as Tuesday.

It’s known Senate leaders hoped to clear most of the national security-related positions, but there is no final list who will be confirmed Tuesday, and Democrats and Republicans say they may not know until the afternoon.

The confirmations will have to be approved by unanimous consent, meaning no senators object to the person being confirmed. There are no roll call votes scheduled Tuesday.

A preliminary list of potential confirmations circulated to senators follows after the jump:

WASHINGTON (CNN) - Bump into John McCain in a Capitol hallway these days, and you’re lucky if you get anything beyond a polite hello. Ask him a question on any policy or political issue, and he will almost always decline comment, and keep moving.

But the former Republican presidential nominee is not planning to keep a low profile for long.

CNN has learned that McCain may get seats on an unusually high number of key Senate committees, so that he can engage on a wide range of high-profile issues before Congress, and his formal rival in the White House.

“He wants to be a player,” McCain’s good friend, Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, told CNN in a phone conversation.